At the hearing at the parliamentary Health committee, Álvaro Almeida said that the program “Call first, save lives” this in force in 27 of the 39 local health units (ULS)the number that the Ministry of Health’s Shared Services (SPMS) considered the line had the capacity to support.
The “call first, save lives” program, to reduce pressure in emergencies, has not yet been implemented in all local health units due to lack of capacity on the SNS 24 line, the executive director of the SNS acknowledged this Wednesday.
In a hearing at the parliamentary Health committee, at the request of the PS bench, Álvaro Almeida said that the program is in force in 27 of the 39 local health units (ULS)the number that the Ministry of Health’s Shared Services (SPMS) considered the line had the capacity to support.
When it reached 27 ULS, “it was understood by the SPMS and by the Executive Management that there would be no capacity to continue expanding the program”, admitted the person responsible for the entity that manages the network of National Health Service (SNS) units.
To the deputies, Álvaro Almeida also mentioned that the Executive Board would like to be able to extend the “call first, save lives” program to the entire country, considering that the measure helps to make better use of healthcare, but “operational difficulties oblige” to maintain the program at 27 ULS.
“Significantly alleviated” hospital emergencies
The program, which began as a pilot project at ULS Póvoa do Varzim-Vila do Conde and was gradually extended to other ULS, has allowed “significantly alleviate the functioning” of hospital emergenciesthrough guiding users to the most appropriate level of care, he highlighted.
Álvaro Almeida said that the SNS 24 line had around 3.5 million contacts, of which 1.8 million led to guidance for patients towards alternatives to hospital emergencies, the majority for primary health care, but also for self-care.
“We have a huge gain for the SNS, which is the release of a large part of the demand for hospital emergencies which is unnecessary”, defended the executive director of the SNS, who rejected that Line SNS 24 is the only entry point for users into the SNS.
In this sense, he mentioned that around 47 million consultations are carried out annually, while the SNS 24 line carries out around 3.5 million contacts.
“This number is just to draw attention to the fact that there is a lot of SNS – the majority of the SNS – that is beyond the SNS 24 line. It seems to me to be an exaggeration to say that the SNS 24 line is the only entry point into the SNS”, said Álvaro Almeida.
